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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is the best reason to buy an Xbox. You can forget about MechAssault, Unreal Championship or Steel Battalion for that matter. Splinter Cell is a game that should be experienced by everyone. Featuring brilliant visuals, edge-of-your-seat gameplay, and some of the best voice acting around, Splinter Cell is one of the best single-player experiences to come out this year. Ubi Soft Montreal (yes, you read that correctly, Ubi Soft) has put out what is undoubtedly one of the best games this year.

Interestingly enough, Splinter Cell is not based on a Tom Clancy book. In fact, the whole concept behind Splinter Cell is something that Ubi Soft developed internally and later Clancy put his stamp of approval on it. But after playing through the game, it has Tom Clancy written all over it.

In Splinter Cell, players take on the role of Sam Fisher, a member of the top secret "Third Echelon." Created by the National Security Agency (NSA), the Third Echelon was created as a military cover operation to handle missions on a "need to know" basis. Unlike Rainbow Six, where a team works together to complete a mission, operatives in the Third Echelon work alone. Armed with some of the most advanced weapons and gadgets around, Third Echelon agents are taught to infiltrate, neutralize, and disappear. As Sam Fisher, players are attempting to rid the world of what else? Terrorists. When the NSA gets intel regarding a high-tech threat in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, Fisher is sent out to prevent what could be World War III.

Splinter Cell is a third-person stealth-based game, much like the Metal Gear Solid series. What's important to note about Splinter Cell is that it's not a game trying to be like Metal Gear Solid 2, it's a game that has evolved past it. Once you pick up the controls and play the game, you'll realize just how incredible it is.

Being a top secret agent means you have to posses the moves necessary to complete your missions. Fisher has a wealth of moves at his disposal. Whatever the situation may be, Fisher has a move for it. For example, he can walk normally, run or tip-toe (all dependant on how far you push the analog stick), crouch, climb, or hang on a ledge and shimmy from left to right. He can peek around corners, put his back against a wall, and even shoot from this position. He can go down a zip line, repel down a wall, and even do a wall jump. He can even drop down on unsuspecting guards and take them out. There is a great training session at the start of the game so players can get familiar with the controls.

Because the game concentrates more on stealth and less on killing everyone in sight, Fisher's arsenal is pretty limited. At the start of the game, Fisher's main weapon is a silenced pistol. Although very effective in taking out enemy guards, it's better used to take out lights and surveillance cameras. Later on you'll pick up an experimental assault rifle, the SP-20K, frag grenades, and gas grenades.

In addition to weapons, players have access to a wide variety of gadgets. What's truly unique about these gadgets is that they're not used for taking out an enemy, but helping keep Fisher out of sight. Gadgets like night and thermal goggles or an optic cable that you can slide underneath a door to see who or what is on the other side. My favorite is the sticky camera -- a remote camera that you can attach anywhere and check out what's ahead of you. And, to top it off, you can even activate night and thermal vision with the camera. Pretty slick if you ask me.